Florine Stettheimer United States, 1870-1944
Portrait Of Louis Bernheimer, 1923
Oil On Canvas
28 In X 18 In
1958.14 Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer

Florine Stettheimer received her earliest art training at the Art Students League in New York City, followed by years of study and travel in Europe. With the outbreak of WWI, she returned to New York where she pursued art, poetry, and stage, costume, and furniture design. She was financially independent and did not seek to sell her work. The subjects of her paintings were New York artists and intellectuals who frequented the salons held by the artist and her sisters. Louis Bernheimer was related by marriage to the artist. He spent the summer of 1922 on Nantucket, and wrote to Florine's sister, Ettie, of his plan to "swim naked every day until I approach the cutaneous condition of a coffee bean, and become, if possible, younger than ever." In response, Florine sent him a postcard presenting seven paint samples of skin tone ranging from yellow to dark brown, and asked him to "match the shade . . . " Bernheimer obliged and was portrayed by Stettheimer in his pin-striped pants, orange jacket, and deep tan.